Priority class indication for base station MCOT sharing for AUL

ABSTRACT

Indication of transmission priority class is disclosed for sharing a base station&#39;s maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) for use in autonomous uplink (AUL). Aspects of the disclosure provide for implicitly sharing the MCOT by providing an indication of transmission opportunity (TxOP) length. A serving base station sends an indication of a current TxOP length in control signals to a user equipment (UE). The UE may then infer a set of potential transmission priorities used by the serving base station according to the TxOP length, as TxOP length may relate to the MCOT, which itself may be associated with a particular transmission priority class. The UE may then, conservatively, select the highest transmission priority of the set of potential transmission priorities for autonomously transmitting any uplink data having at least the selected highest transmission priority within configured AUL resource of the current TxOP.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/276,101, entitled, “PRIORITY CLASS INDICATION FOR BASE STATION MCOTSHARING FOR AUL,” filed on Feb. 14, 2019, and also the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/710,336, entitled, “PRIORITY CLASSINDICATION FOR BASE STATION MCOT SHARING FOR AUL,” filed on Feb. 16,2018, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND Field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wirelesscommunication systems, and more particularly, to priority classindication for base station maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT)sharing for autonomous uplink (AUL).

Background

Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide variouscommunication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging,broadcast, and the like. These wireless networks may be multiple-accessnetworks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the availablenetwork resources. Such networks, which are usually multiple accessnetworks, support communications for multiple users by sharing theavailable network resources. One example of such a network is theUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is theradio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phonetechnology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).Examples of multiple-access network formats include Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA)networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, OrthogonalFDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.

A wireless communication network may include a number of base stationsor node Bs that can support communication for a number of userequipments (UEs). A UE may communicate with a base station via downlinkand uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communicationlink from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link)refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.

A base station may transmit data and control information on the downlinkto a UE and/or may receive data and control information on the uplinkfrom the UE. On the downlink, a transmission from the base station mayencounter interference due to transmissions from neighbor base stationsor from other wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink,a transmission from the UE may encounter interference from uplinktransmissions of other UEs communicating with the neighbor base stationsor from other wireless RF transmitters. This interference may degradeperformance on both the downlink and uplink.

As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, thepossibilities of interference and congested networks grows with more UEsaccessing the long-range wireless communication networks and moreshort-range wireless systems being deployed in communities. Research anddevelopment continue to advance wireless technologies not only to meetthe growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance andenhance the user experience with mobile communications.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communicationincludes receiving, by a UE, control signals from a serving base stationincluding at least a transmission opportunity (TxOP) length of a currentTxOP of the serving base station, inferring, by the UE, a set ofpotential transmission priorities used by the serving base station tosecure the channel access according to the TxOP length, selecting, bythe UE, a highest transmission priority of the set of potentialtransmission priorities, and autonomously transmitting, by the UE, datahaving at least the selected highest transmission priority within aconfigured autonomous uplink (AUL) resource of the current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method of wirelesscommunication includes receiving, by a UE, control signals including atleast a transmission priority used by a serving base station to secure acurrent TxOP of the serving base station, identifying, by the UE, uplinkdata having at least the transmission priority indicated in the controlsignals, and autonomously transmitting, by the UE, the uplink datawithin a configured AUL resource of the current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured forwireless communication includes means for receiving, by a UE, controlsignals from a serving base station including at least a TxOP length ofa current TxOP of the serving base station, means for inferring, by theUE, a set of potential transmission priorities used by the serving basestation to secure the channel access according to the TxOP length, meansfor selecting, by the UE, a highest transmission priority of the set ofpotential transmission priorities, and means for autonomouslytransmitting, by the UE, data having at least the selected highesttransmission priority within a configured AUL resource of the currentTxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured forwireless communication includes means for receiving, by a UE, controlsignals including at least a transmission priority used by a servingbase station to secure a current TxOP of the serving base station, meansfor identifying, by the UE, uplink data having at least the transmissionpriority indicated in the control signals, and means for autonomouslytransmitting, by the UE, the uplink data within a configured AULresource of the current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon. Theprogram code further includes code to receive, by a UE, control signalsfrom a serving base station including at least a TxOP length of acurrent TxOP of the serving base station, code to infer, by the UE, aset of potential transmission priorities used by the serving basestation to secure the channel access according to the TxOP length, codeto select, by the UE, a highest transmission priority of the set ofpotential transmission priorities, and code to autonomously transmit, bythe UE, data having at least the selected highest transmission prioritywithin a configured AUL resource of the current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon. Theprogram code further includes code to receive, by a UE, control signalsincluding at least a transmission priority used by a serving basestation to secure a current TxOP of the serving base station, code toidentify, by the UE, uplink data having at least the transmissionpriority indicated in the control signals, and code to autonomouslytransmit, by the UE, the uplink data within a configured AUL resource ofthe current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured forwireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least oneprocessor, and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor isconfigured to receive, by a UE, control signals from a serving basestation including at least a TxOP length of a current TxOP of theserving base station, to infer, by the UE, a set of potentialtransmission priorities used by the serving base station to secure thechannel access according to the TxOP length, to select, by the UE, ahighest transmission priority of the set of potential transmissionpriorities, and to autonomously transmit, by the UE, data having atleast the selected highest transmission priority within a configured AULresource of the current TxOP.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus configured forwireless communication is disclosed. The apparatus includes at least oneprocessor, and a memory coupled to the processor. The processor isconfigured to receive, by a UE, control signals including at least atransmission priority used by a serving base station to secure a currentTxOP of the serving base station, to identify, by the UE, uplink datahaving at least the transmission priority indicated in the controlsignals, and to autonomously transmit, by the UE, the uplink data withina configured AUL resource of the current TxOP.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that thedetailed description that follows may be better understood. Additionalfeatures and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conceptionand specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis formodifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do notdepart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of theconcepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method ofoperation, together with associated advantages will be better understoodfrom the following description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose ofillustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits ofthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the presentdisclosure may be realized by reference to the following drawings. Inthe appended figures, similar components or features may have the samereference label. Further, various components of the same type may bedistinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating details of a wirelesscommunication system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a design of a base station and aUE configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication systemincluding base stations that use directional wireless beams.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed toimplement one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating and an example base station andUE configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station and UEsconfigured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed toimplement one aspect of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating detail of an example UEconfigured according to aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with theappended drawings, is intended as a description of variousconfigurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.Rather, the detailed description includes specific details for thepurpose of providing a thorough understanding of the inventive subjectmatter. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that thesespecific details are not required in every case and that, in someinstances, well-known structures and components are shown in blockdiagram form for clarity of presentation.

This disclosure relates generally to providing or participating inauthorized shared access between two or more wireless communicationssystems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. Invarious embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used forwireless communication networks such as code division multiple access(CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks,frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA(OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks,GSM networks, 5^(th) Generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks, as wellas other communications networks. As described herein, the terms“networks” and “systems” may be used interchangeably.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as evolved UTRA(E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM and thelike. UTRA, E-UTRA, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)are part of universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS). Inparticular, long term evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that usesE-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documentsprovided from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project”(3GPP), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organizationnamed “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). These variousradio technologies and standards are known or are being developed. Forexample, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is acollaboration between groups of telecommunications associations thataims to define a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phonespecification. 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP project whichwas aimed at improving the universal mobile telecommunications system(UMTS) mobile phone standard. The 3GPP may define specifications for thenext generation of mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices.The present disclosure is concerned with the evolution of wirelesstechnologies from LTE, 4G, 5G, NR, and beyond with shared access towireless spectrum between networks using a collection of new anddifferent radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

In particular, 5G networks contemplate diverse deployments, diversespectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented usingan OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals,further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition todevelopment of the new radio technology for 5G NR networks. The 5G NRwill be capable of scaling to provide coverage (1) to a massive Internetof things (IoTs) with an ultra-high density (e.g., ˜1M nodes/km²),ultra-low complexity (e.g., ˜10s of bits/sec), ultra-low energy (e.g.,˜10+ years of battery life), and deep coverage with the capability toreach challenging locations; (2) including mission-critical control withstrong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, orclassified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ˜99.9999%reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., ˜1 ms), and users with wideranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (3) with enhanced mobilebroadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ˜10 Tbps/km²), extremedata rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, 100+ Mbps user experienced rates),and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The 5G NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms withscalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI); having acommon, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services andfeatures with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex(TDD)/frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wirelesstechnologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO),robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding,and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in 5G NR,with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operatingdiverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. Forexample, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than3 GHz FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with 15 kHz,for example over 1, 5, 10, 20 MHz, and the like bandwidth. For othervarious outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 30 kHz over 80/100 MHzbandwidth. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using aTDD over the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrierspacing may occur with 60 kHz over a 160 MHz bandwidth. Finally, forvarious deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of 28GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 120 kHz over a 500 MHz bandwidth.

The scalable numerology of the 5G NR facilitates scalable TTI fordiverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example,shorter TTI may be used for low latency and high reliability, whilelonger TTI may be used for higher spectral efficiency. The efficientmultiplexing of long and short TTIs to allow transmissions to start onsymbol boundaries. 5G NR also contemplates a self-contained integratedsubframe design with uplink/downlink scheduling information, data, andacknowledgement in the same subframe. The self-contained integratedsubframe supports communications in unlicensed or contention-basedshared spectrum, adaptive uplink/downlink that may be flexiblyconfigured on a per-cell basis to dynamically switch between uplink anddownlink to meet the current traffic needs.

Various other aspects and features of the disclosure are furtherdescribed below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may beembodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure,function, or both being disclosed herein is merely representative andnot limiting. Based on the teachings herein one of an ordinary level ofskill in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein maybe implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or moreof these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, anapparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using anynumber of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatusmay be implemented or such a method may be practiced using otherstructure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition toor other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. For example,a method may be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus,and/or as instructions stored on a computer readable medium forexecution on a processor or computer. Furthermore, an aspect maycomprise at least one element of a claim.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating 5G network 100 including variousbase stations and UEs configured according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. The 5G network 100 includes a number of base stations 105and other network entities. A base station may be a station thatcommunicates with the UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved nodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), an access point, and the like.Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage for aparticular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to thisparticular geographic coverage area of a base station and/or a basestation subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context inwhich the term is used.

A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or asmall cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types ofcell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area(e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted accessby UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A smallcell, such as a pico cell, would generally cover a relatively smallergeographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with servicesubscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a femtocell, would also generally cover a relatively small geographic area(e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also providerestricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell(e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG), UEs for users in thehome, and the like). A base station for a macro cell may be referred toas a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referredto as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto basestation or a home base station. In the example shown in FIG. 1 , thebase stations 105 d and 105 e are regular macro base stations, whilebase stations 105 a-105 c are macro base stations enabled with one of 3dimension (3D), full dimension (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a-105 c take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities toexploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming toincrease coverage and capacity. Base station 105 f is a small cell basestation which may be a home node or portable access point. A basestation may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and thelike) cells.

The 5G network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation.For synchronous operation, the base stations may have similar frametiming, and transmissions from different base stations may beapproximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the basestations may have different frame timing, and transmissions fromdifferent base stations may not be aligned in time.

The UEs 115 are dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and eachUE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as aterminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. AUE may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), awireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, atablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless localloop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE may be a devicethat includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). In anotheraspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In someaspects, UEs that do not include UICCs may also be referred to asinterne of everything (IoE) devices. UEs 115 a-115 d are examples ofmobile smart phone-type devices accessing 5G network 100 A UE may alsobe a machine specifically configured for connected communication,including machine type communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC),narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. UEs 115 e-115 k are examples ofvarious machines configured for communication that access 5G network100. A UE may be able to communicate with any type of the base stations,whether macro base station, small cell, or the like. In FIG. 1 , alightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wirelesstransmissions between a UE and a serving base station, which is a basestation designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink, ordesired transmission between base stations, and backhaul transmissionsbetween base stations.

In operation at 5G network 100, base stations 105 a-105 c serve UEs 115a and 115 b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques,such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. Macro basestation 105 d performs backhaul communications with base stations 105a-105 c, as well as small cell, base station 105 f. Macro base station105 d also transmits multicast services which are subscribed to andreceived by UEs 115 c and 115 d. Such multicast services may includemobile television or stream video, or may include other services forproviding community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts,such as Amber alerts or gray alerts.

5G network 100 also support mission critical communications withultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such UE115 e, which is a drone. Redundant communication links with UE 115 einclude from macro base stations 105 d and 105 e, as well as small cellbase station 105 f. Other machine type devices, such as UE 115 f(thermometer), UE 115 g (smart meter), and UE 115 h (wearable device)may communicate through 5G network 100 either directly with basestations, such as small cell base station 105 f, and macro base station105 e, or in multi-hop configurations by communicating with another userdevice which relays its information to the network, such as UE 115 fcommunicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, UE115 g, which is then reported to the network through small cell basestation 105 f. 5G network 100 may also provide additional networkefficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such asin a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between UEs 115 i-115 kcommunicating with macro base station 105 e.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a design of a base station 105 and a UE115, which may be one of the base station and one of the UEs in FIG. 1 .At the base station 105, a transmit processor 220 may receive data froma data source 212 and control information from a controller/processor240. The control information may be for the PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH,EPDCCH, MPDCCH etc. The data may be for the PDSCH, etc. The transmitprocessor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data andcontrol information to obtain data symbols and control symbols,respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate referencesymbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. Atransmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 mayperform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, thecontrol symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and mayprovide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 232 a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream(e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, andupconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal.Downlink signals from modulators 232 a through 232 t may be transmittedvia the antennas 234 a through 234 t, respectively.

At the UE 115, the antennas 252 a through 252 r may receive the downlinksignals from the base station 105 and may provide received signals tothe demodulators (DEMODs) 254 a through 254 r, respectively. Eachdemodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, anddigitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Eachdemodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM,etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtainreceived symbols from all the demodulators 254 a through 254 r, performMIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and providedetected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate,deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data forthe UE 115 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control informationto a controller/processor 280.

On the uplink, at the UE 115, a transmit processor 264 may receive andprocess data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 262 and controlinformation (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor 280. Thetransmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for areference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may beprecoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed bythe modulators 254 a through 254 r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), andtransmitted to the base station 105. At the base station 105, the uplinksignals from the UE 115 may be received by the antennas 234, processedby the demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable,and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded dataand control information sent by the UE 115. The processor 238 mayprovide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded controlinformation to the controller/processor 240.

The controllers/processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at thebase station 105 and the UE 115, respectively. The controller/processor240 and/or other processors and modules at the base station 105 mayperform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniquesdescribed herein. The controllers/processor 280 and/or other processorsand modules at the UE 115 may also perform or direct the execution ofthe functional blocks illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 7 , and/or otherprocesses for the techniques described herein. The memories 242 and 282may store data and program codes for the base station 105 and the UE115, respectively. A scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for datatransmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

Wireless communications systems operated by different network operatingentities (e.g., network operators) may share spectrum. In someinstances, a network operating entity may be configured to use anentirety of a designated shared spectrum for at least a period of timebefore another network operating entity uses the entirety of thedesignated shared spectrum for a different period of time. Thus, inorder to allow network operating entities use of the full designatedshared spectrum, and in order to mitigate interfering communicationsbetween the different network operating entities, certain resources(e.g., time) may be partitioned and allocated to the different networkoperating entities for certain types of communication.

For example, a network operating entity may be allocated certain timeresources reserved for exclusive communication by the network operatingentity using the entirety of the shared spectrum. The network operatingentity may also be allocated other time resources where the entity isgiven priority over other network operating entities to communicateusing the shared spectrum. These time resources, prioritized for use bythe network operating entity, may be utilized by other network operatingentities on an opportunistic basis if the prioritized network operatingentity does not utilize the resources. Additional time resources may beallocated for any network operator to use on an opportunistic basis.

Access to the shared spectrum and the arbitration of time resourcesamong different network operating entities may be centrally controlledby a separate entity, autonomously determined by a predefinedarbitration scheme, or dynamically determined based on interactionsbetween wireless nodes of the network operators.

In some cases, UE 115 and base station 105 may operate in a shared radiofrequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g.,contention-based) frequency spectrum. In an unlicensed frequency portionof the shared radio frequency spectrum band, UEs 115 or base stations105 may traditionally perform a medium-sensing procedure to contend foraccess to the frequency spectrum. For example, UE 115 or base station105 may perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure such as a clearchannel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determinewhether the shared channel is available. A CCA may include an energydetection procedure to determine whether there are any other activetransmissions. For example, a device may infer that a change in areceived signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicatesthat a channel is occupied. Specifically, signal power that isconcentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeds a predetermined noisefloor may indicate another wireless transmitter. A CCA also may includedetection of specific sequences that indicate use of the channel. Forexample, another device may transmit a specific preamble prior totransmitting a data sequence. In some cases, an LBT procedure mayinclude a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on theamount of energy detected on a channel and/or theacknowledge/negative-acknowledge (ACK/NACK) feedback for its owntransmitted packets as a proxy for collisions.

Use of a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to an unlicensedshared spectrum may result in communication inefficiencies. This may beparticularly evident when multiple network operating entities (e.g.,network operators) are attempting to access a shared resource. In 5Gnetwork 100, base stations 105 and UEs 115 may be operated by the sameor different network operating entities. In some examples, an individualbase station 105 or UE 115 may be operated by more than one networkoperating entity. In other examples, each base station 105 and UE 115may be operated by a single network operating entity. Requiring eachbase station 105 and UE 115 of different network operating entities tocontend for shared resources may result in increased signaling overheadand communication latency.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a timing diagram 300 for coordinatedresource partitioning. The timing diagram 300 includes a superframe 305,which may represent a fixed duration of time (e.g., 20 ms). Superframe305 may be repeated for a given communication session and may be used bya wireless system such as 5G network 100 described with reference toFIG. 1 . The superframe 305 may be divided into intervals such as anacquisition interval (A-INT) 310 and an arbitration interval 315. Asdescribed in more detail below, the A-INT 310 and arbitration interval315 may be subdivided into sub-intervals, designated for certainresource types, and allocated to different network operating entities tofacilitate coordinated communications between the different networkoperating entities. For example, the arbitration interval 315 may bedivided into a plurality of sub-intervals 320. Also, the superframe 305may be further divided into a plurality of subframes 325 with a fixedduration (e.g., 1 ms). While timing diagram 300 illustrates threedifferent network operating entities (e.g., Operator A, Operator B,Operator C), the number of network operating entities using thesuperframe 305 for coordinated communications may be greater than orfewer than the number illustrated in timing diagram 300.

The A-INT 310 may be a dedicated interval of the superframe 305 that isreserved for exclusive communications by the network operating entities.In some examples, each network operating entity may be allocated certainresources within the A-INT 310 for exclusive communications. Forexample, resources 330-a may be reserved for exclusive communications byOperator A, such as through base station 105 a, resources 330-b may bereserved for exclusive communications by Operator B, such as throughbase station 105 b, and resources 330-c may be reserved for exclusivecommunications by Operator C, such as through base station 105 c. Sincethe resources 330-a are reserved for exclusive communications byOperator A, neither Operator B nor Operator C can communicate duringresources 330-a, even if Operator A chooses not to communicate duringthose resources. That is, access to exclusive resources is limited tothe designated network operator. Similar restrictions apply to resources330-b for Operator B and resources 330-c for Operator C. The wirelessnodes of Operator A (e.g, UEs 115 or base stations 105) may communicateany information desired during their exclusive resources 330-a, such ascontrol information or data.

When communicating over an exclusive resource, a network operatingentity does not need to perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g.,listen-before-talk (LBT) or clear channel assessment (CCA)) because thenetwork operating entity knows that the resources are reserved. Becauseonly the designated network operating entity may communicate overexclusive resources, there may be a reduced likelihood of interferingcommunications as compared to relying on medium sensing techniques alone(e.g., no hidden node problem). In some examples, the A-INT 310 is usedto transmit control information, such as synchronization signals (e.g.,SYNC signals), system information (e.g., system information blocks(SIBs)), paging information (e.g., physical broadcast channel (PBCH)messages), or random access information (e.g., random access channel(RACH) signals). In some examples, all of the wireless nodes associatedwith a network operating entity may transmit at the same time duringtheir exclusive resources.

In some examples, resources may be classified as prioritized for certainnetwork operating entities. Resources that are assigned with priorityfor a certain network operating entity may be referred to as aguaranteed interval (G-INT) for that network operating entity. Theinterval of resources used by the network operating entity during theG-INT may be referred to as a prioritized sub-interval. For example,resources 335-a may be prioritized for use by Operator A and maytherefore be referred to as a G-INT for Operator A (e.g., G-INT-OpA).Similarly, resources 335-b may be prioritized for Operator B, resources335-c may be prioritized for Operator C, resources 335-d may beprioritized for Operator A, resources 335-e may be prioritized forOperator B, and resources 335-f may be prioritized for operator C.

The various G-INT resources illustrated in FIG. 3 appear to be staggeredto illustrate their association with their respective network operatingentities, but these resources may all be on the same frequencybandwidth. Thus, if viewed along a time-frequency grid, the G-INTresources may appear as a contiguous line within the superframe 305.This partitioning of data may be an example of time divisionmultiplexing (TDM). Also, when resources appear in the same sub-interval(e.g., resources 340-a and resources 335-b), these resources representthe same time resources with respect to the superframe 305 (e.g., theresources occupy the same sub-interval 320), but the resources areseparately designated to illustrate that the same time resources can beclassified differently for different operators.

When resources are assigned with priority for a certain networkoperating entity (e.g., a G-INT), that network operating entity maycommunicate using those resources without having to wait or perform anymedium sensing procedures (e.g., LBT or CCA). For example, the wirelessnodes of Operator A are free to communicate any data or controlinformation during resources 335-a without interference from thewireless nodes of Operator B or Operator C.

A network operating entity may additionally signal to another operatorthat it intends to use a particular G-INT. For example, referring toresources 335-a, Operator A may signal to Operator B and Operator C thatit intends to use resources 335-a. Such signaling may be referred to asan activity indication. Moreover, since Operator A has priority overresources 335-a, Operator A may be considered as a higher priorityoperator than both Operator B and Operator C. However, as discussedabove, Operator A does not have to send signaling to the other networkoperating entities to ensure interference-free transmission duringresources 335-a because the resources 335-a are assigned with priorityto Operator A.

Similarly, a network operating entity may signal to another networkoperating entity that it intends not to use a particular G-INT. Thissignaling may also be referred to as an activity indication. Forexample, referring to resources 335-b, Operator B may signal to OperatorA and Operator C that it intends not to use the resources 335-b forcommunication, even though the resources are assigned with priority toOperator B. With reference to resources 335-b, Operator B may beconsidered a higher priority network operating entity than Operator Aand Operator C. In such cases, Operators A and C may attempt to useresources of sub-interval 320 on an opportunistic basis. Thus, from theperspective of Operator A, the sub-interval 320 that contains resources335-b may be considered an opportunistic interval (O-INT) for Operator A(e.g., O-INT-OpA). For illustrative purposes, resources 340-a mayrepresent the O-INT for Operator A. Also, from the perspective ofOperator C, the same sub-interval 320 may represent an O-INT forOperator C with corresponding resources 340-b. Resources 340-a, 335-b,and 340-b all represent the same time resources (e.g., a particularsub-interval 320), but are identified separately to signify that thesame resources may be considered as a G-INT for some network operatingentities and yet as an O-INT for others.

To utilize resources on an opportunistic basis, Operator A and OperatorC may perform medium-sensing procedures to check for communications on aparticular channel before transmitting data. For example, if Operator Bdecides not to use resources 335-b(e.g., G-INT-OpB), then Operator A mayuse those same resources (e.g., represented by resources 340-a) by firstchecking the channel for interference (e.g., LBT) and then transmittingdata if the channel was determined to be clear. Similarly, if Operator Cwanted to access resources on an opportunistic basis during sub-interval320 (e.g., use an O-INT represented by resources 340-b) in response toan indication that Operator B was not going to use its G-INT, Operator Cmay perform a medium sensing procedure and access the resources ifavailable. In some cases, two operators (e.g., Operator A and OperatorC) may attempt to access the same resources, in which case the operatorsmay employ contention-based procedures to avoid interferingcommunications. The operators may also have sub-priorities assigned tothem designed to determine which operator may gain access to resourcesif more than operator is attempting access simultaneously.

In some examples, a network operating entity may intend not to use aparticular G-INT assigned to it, but may not send out an activityindication that conveys the intent not to use the resources. In suchcases, for a particular sub-interval 320, lower priority operatingentities may be configured to monitor the channel to determine whether ahigher priority operating entity is using the resources. If a lowerpriority operating entity determines through LBT or similar method thata higher priority operating entity is not going to use its G-INTresources, then the lower priority operating entities may attempt toaccess the resources on an opportunistic basis as described above.

In some examples, access to a G-INT or O-INT may be preceded by areservation signal (e.g., request-to-send (RTS)/clear-to-send (CTS)),and the contention window (CW) may be randomly chosen between one andthe total number of operating entities.

In some examples, an operating entity may employ or be compatible withcoordinated multipoint (CoMP) communications. For example an operatingentity may employ CoMP and dynamic time division duplex (TDD) in a G-INTand opportunistic CoMP in an O-INT as needed.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 3 , each sub-interval 320 includes aG-INT for one of Operator A, B, or C. However, in some cases, one ormore sub-intervals 320 may include resources that are neither reservedfor exclusive use nor reserved for prioritized use (e.g., unassignedresources). Such unassigned resources may be considered an O-INT for anynetwork operating entity, and may be accessed on an opportunistic basisas described above.

In some examples, each subframe 325 may contain 14 symbols (e.g., 250-μsfor 60 kHz tone spacing). These subframes 325 may be standalone,self-contained Interval-Cs (ITCs) or the subframes 325 may be a part ofa long ITC. An ITC may be a self-contained transmission starting with adownlink transmission and ending with a uplink transmission. In someembodiments, an ITC may contain one or more subframes 325 operatingcontiguously upon medium occupation. In some cases, there may be amaximum of eight network operators in an A-INT 310 (e.g., with durationof 2 ms) assuming a 250-μs transmission opportunity.

Although three operators are illustrated in FIG. 3 , it should beunderstood that fewer or more network operating entities may beconfigured to operate in a coordinated manner as described above. Insome cases, the location of the G-INT, O-INT, or A-INT within superframe305 for each operator is determined autonomously based on the number ofnetwork operating entities active in a system. For example, if there isonly one network operating entity, each sub-interval 320 may be occupiedby a G-INT for that single network operating entity, or thesub-intervals 320 may alternate between G-INTs for that networkoperating entity and O-INTs to allow other network operating entities toenter. If there are two network operating entities, the sub-intervals320 may alternate between G-INTs for the first network operating entityand G-INTs for the second network operating entity. If there are threenetwork operating entities, the G-INT and O-INTs for each networkoperating entity may be designed as illustrated in FIG. 3 . If there arefour network operating entities, the first four sub-intervals 320 mayinclude consecutive G-INTs for the four network operating entities andthe remaining two sub-intervals 320 may contain O-INTs. Similarly, ifthere are five network operating entities, the first five sub-intervals320 may contain consecutive G-INTs for the five network operatingentities and the remaining sub-interval 320 may contain an O-INT. Ifthere are six network operating entities, all six sub-intervals 320 mayinclude consecutive G-INTs for each network operating entity. It shouldbe understood that these examples are for illustrative purposes only andthat other autonomously determined interval allocations may be used.

It should be understood that the coordination framework described withreference to FIG. 3 is for illustration purposes only. For example, theduration of superframe 305 may be more or less than 20 ms. Also, thenumber, duration, and location of sub-intervals 320 and subframes 325may differ from the configuration illustrated. Also, the types ofresource designations (e.g., exclusive, prioritized, unassigned) maydiffer or include more or less sub-designations.

In license assisted access (LAA), depending on the priority of thetraffic (priority class), there may be different available dimensionsfor contention window size (CWS) and the associated maximum channeloccupancy time (MCOT) that can be supported. Higher priority classtraffic (lower priority) uses a longer contention window, but thetransmission opportunity (TxOP) can be longer. Table 1 below identifiesthe different priority classes and their corresponding MCOT lengths thathave been suggested in the standards specifications.

TABLE 1 Priority Class MCOT (ms) CWS 1 2 {3, 7} 2 3  {7, 15} 3 6 or 10{15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511, 1023} 4 6 or 10 {15, 31, 63, 127, 255, 511,1023}

Current suggestions would provide for a base station to share the MCOTfor autonomous uplink (AUL) operations. In such base station-acquiredMCOT, the AUL UE detects the common PDCCH (C-PDCCH) to determine whetherits configured AUL resource falls within the base station's TxOP. TheC-PDCCH carries a field that indicates the number of downlink and uplinksubframes in the TxOP. If the AUL resource configured for the AUL UE iswithin the uplink subframes of the C-PDCCH-indicated TxOP, the AUL UEcan perform a shortened listen before talk (LBT) procedure (e.g.,Category 2 or 25 μs LBT) to start transmissions in the configured AULresource within the shared MCOT if LBT succeeds. If the base stationdecides to share with an AUL UE, it may consider ensuring that the datatransmitted by the AUL UE in the shared MCOT is of an appropriatepriority class. It may be considered an unfair channel sharing for a UEto transmit lower priority traffic when the base station has used ahigher priority traffic to contend for the channel. A UE would notnecessarily know the priority class used by the base station. Therefore,the base station may indicate this priority to the AUL UEs. Variousaspects of the present disclosure are directed to different options forthe base station to indicate to AUL UEs the priority class used for thecurrent TxOP.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed toimplement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks willalso be described with respect to UE 115 as illustrated in FIG. 8 . FIG.8 is a block diagram illustrating UE 115 configured according to oneaspect of the present disclosure. UE 115 includes the structure,hardware, and components as illustrated for UE 115 of FIG. 2 . Forexample, UE 115 includes controller/processor 280, which operates toexecute logic or computer instructions stored in memory 282, as well ascontrolling the components of UE 115 that provide the features andfunctionality of UE 115. UE 115, under control of controller/processor280, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 800 a-r andantennas 252 a-r. Wireless radios 800 a-r includes various componentsand hardware, as illustrated in FIG. 2 for UE 115, includingmodulator/demodulators 254 a-r, MIMO detector 256, receive processor258, transmit processor 264, and TX MIMO processor 266.

At block 400, a UE receives a control signals from a serving basestation including at least a TxOP length of a current TxOP of theserving base station. For example, UE 115 may detect and receive controlsignals (e.g., C-PDCCH, PDCCH, etc.) via wireless antennas 252 a-r andwireless radios 800 a-r. The control signals may include an indicationof the TxOP length. In one example implementation, the length may beindicated by identifying the number of uplink and downlink subframes orslots within the current TxOP.

At block 401, the UE infers a set of potential transmission prioritiesused by the serving base station to secure the channel access accordingto the TxOP length. For example, under control of controller/processor280, UE 115 executes transmission priority mapping logic 803, stored inmemory 282. The execution environment of transmission priority mappinglogic 803 allows for UE 115, by examining the TxOP length, to infer oneor more possible transmission priorities that were used by the servingbase station LBT to secure the channel. The shorter the TxOP, the higherpriority was likely used by the serving base station. As indicatedabove, higher transmission priorities generally include shorter, moreaggressive contention window sizes and shorter MCOTs, to allow moretransmission opportunities. Thus, by examining the TxOP length, UE 115may infer a set of possible transmission priorities.

At block 402, the UE selects a highest transmission priority of the setof potential transmission priorities. When UE 115 has uplink data thatmay be sent in AUL transmissions, UE 115 selects the highest priority ofthe set of priorities inferred and stores it at transmission priorityclass 804 in memory 282. Attempting to match priority not only suggestsan attempt at transmission fairness (e.g., not transmitting lowerpriority data when a higher priority was used to secure the channel),but also that lower transmission priority may suggest a longer MCOT,which may exceed the MCOT associated with a higher priority actuallyused by the serving base station.

At block 403, the UE autonomously transmits data having at least theselected highest transmission priority within a configured AUL resourceof the current TxOP. With the TxOP length known and the mostconservative transmission priority selected, UE 115 may determinewhether the AUL resources configured for UE 115 via control signals fallwithin an uplink subframe of the current TxOP. The identification of AULresources would be stored in memory 282 at AUL configuration 802. Inselecting data for AUL transmissions, UE 115 should select the highestpossible priority data that may match the priority used by the servingbase station to secure the channel. All uplink data for transmission maybe maintained by UE 115 in uplink buffer 801 in memory 282. UE 115 wouldselect the data from uplink data buffer 803 with at least as high atransmission priority as the selected transmission priority stored attransmission priority class 804. UE 115 may then autonomously transmit,via wireless radios 800 a-r and antennas 252 a-r, the data that has atleast the matching selected highest transmission priority within theconfigured AUL resources of the current TxOP.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station 105 andUE 115 configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure.Base station 105 intends for downlink data and perhaps to scheduleuplink data from UE 115. Prior to transmission, base station 105performs an LBT procedure (not shown). The operation of the LBTprocedure will depend on the transmission priority of the data to betransmitted. A higher transmission priority would provide for a shorterTxOP through a shorter MCOT, along with a more aggressive contentionwindow size, which allows for shorter back off and contention windowswhen the channel is first detected as occupied. Upon detecting asuccessful LBT, base station 105 may define TxOP 500 by the MCOTassociated with the transmission priority. In this illustrated example,TxOP 500 is divided into two subframes or slots, downlink subframe/slot501 and uplink subframe/slot 502, which is identified also within thecontrol signaling as AUL resources.

Within downlink subframe/slot 501, after broadcast of downlink controlsignal 503, base station 105 may transmit downlink data 504. Followingguard period 505, UE 115 may transmit UE control signals 506, which mayinclude ACK/NACK and the like. The second subframe within TxOP 500,uplink subframe/slot 502, is configured as AUL resources. After downlinkcontrol signal 507 and guard period 508, UE 115 would autonomouslytransmit uplink data 509 to base station 105 if it has uplink data totransmit and the shared communication channel is unoccupied. UE 115 mayperform a shortened LBT procedure to obtain access prior to AULtransmission at uplink data 509. UE 115 may then transmit anothercontrol signal at uplink control 510.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, base station 105implicitly indicates TxOP length in downlink control 503 (e.g., C-PDCCH,PDCCH, etc.). UE 115, then, infers the transmission priority classpotentially used by base station 105 for its LBT of TxOP 500 based onthe TxOP length. For example, if the TxOP length is greater than orequal to 4 ms, base station 105 may have used either priority class 3 or4 to conduct LBT, based on the example parameters of Table 1; if theTxOP length is 3 ms, base station 105 may have used any of priorityclass 2 or 3 or 4 to conduct LBT; otherwise, if the TxOP length is 2 ms,base station 105 may have used any transmission priority class toconduct LBT. In such case, base station 105 may have used a higherpriority class for contention but allocated a shorter TxOP.

In the described aspect, UE 115 may select the most conservativepriority class for its own data multiplexing based on the inferredpossible transmission priority classes associated with the indicatedTxOP length. For example, if UE 115 infers, based on the indicated TxOPlength, that base station 105 has used either priority class 3 or 4 toconduct LBT, UE 115 would select priority class 3 for the class thatbase station 105 used; if UE 115 infers that base station 105 has usedpriority class 2 or higher to conduct LBT, UE 115 would select priorityclass 2 for the class that base station 105 used; and if UE 115 infersthat base station 105 has used priority class 1 or higher to conductLBT, UE 115 would select priority class 1 for the class that basestation 105 used. Thus, UE 115 would only transmit traffic in the AULresource that has equal or higher transmission priority class than theselected priority class.

The described aspect produces conservative results, as UE 115 will makethe most conservative assumption given the TxOP length indicated bydownlink control signal 503. By leveraging the existing TxOP lengthindicator in the downlink control signal 503 (C-PDCCH, PDCCH, etc.) toinfer a set of possible transmission priorities that may have been usedby the base station 105 LBT process to secure the channel access. Thus,one benefit of the implicit signaling allows for the indication of thetransmission priority class to be conveyed without the need ofadditional bits in the signaled grant, such as in C-PDCCH, to convey theactual priority used by the base station 105.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station 105 andUEs 115 a and 115 b configured according to one aspect of the presentdisclosure. Base station 105 secures access for transmissions to theshared channel after a successful LBT procedure using a certaintransmission priority class. Upon successfully completing the LBTprocedure, TxOP 600 is configured with a 4 ms MCOT and four subframes,downlink subframe/slot 601, downlink subframe/slot 602, uplinksubframe/slot 603, uplink subframe/slot 604. The detailed componentparts of uplink subframe/slot 603 are not illustrated. Uplinksubframe/slot 604 is configured as AUL resources and an identifier ofsuch resource is signaled at least in downlink control signal 605.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, base station 105may also indicate the priority class in scheduled uplink (SUL) grants.In current enhanced LAA (eLAA) operations, there is already a priorityfield in the uplink grant format. Thus, the signaling is already there.In such aspect, the UEs with SUL grants in the TxOP would know thepriority class eNB 105 used and, therefore, can select AUL trafficpriority using the exact knowledge of the priority class used. Forexample, base station 105 transmits an uplink grant at downlink controlsignal 605. The uplink grant schedules UE 115 a for uplink transmissionat uplink subframe/slot 603. However, base station 105 also indicatesthe transmission priority that it used for securing the channel.Accordingly, when UE 115 a has remaining uplink data for transmissionafter uplink subframe/slot 603, if the data is at least a priority ashigh as the actual transmission priority class communicated by basestation 105, it may autonomously transmit such data at uplink data 606within the AUL resources of uplink subframe/slot 604. UE 115 a may alsotransmit traffic of lower priority class than indicated in SUL grant, ifresource is still available after emptying all data with the same orhigher priority indicated in SUL grant.

It should be noted that, for UEs without SUL grants in TxOP 600, such asUE 115 b, UE 115 b would infer the set of potential transmissionpriority classes, as described with respect to FIG. 5 , and eitherselect the most conservation inference (e.g., the highest priority), orrefrain from transmissions during TxOP 600, such as when it has no datahaving at least the same priority.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure illustrated inFIG. 6 , base station 105 may further indicate the transmission priorityclass used for LBT in downlink grants. For example, base station 105transmits a downlink grant at downlink control signal 605 to UE 115 afor TxOP 600. The downlink grant also includes the indication of theactual transmission priority class used by base station 105 whensecuring the channel for TxOP 600. With the actual priority classindicated, UE 115 a would be able to accurately select the AUL trafficpriority for AUL transmission at uplink data 606.

It should be noted that, as above, for UEs without either downlink oruplink grants in TxOP 600, such as UE 115 b, UE 115 b may again inferthe set of potential transmission priority classes, as described withrespect to FIG. 5 , and either select the most conservation assumptionor refrain from transmissions during TxOP 600.

It should further be noted that the described aspect including theactual transmission priority class within a downlink grant may causeadditional bits to be added the downlink grant format.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed toimplement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks willalso be described with respect to UE 115 as illustrated in FIG. 8 .

At block 700, a UE receives control signals including at least atransmission priority used by a serving base station to secure a currentTxOP of the serving base station. According to another aspect of thepresent disclosure, a base station may explicitly indicate thetransmission priority class used by the base station with the LBT toacquire the channel. For example, the base station may include anindicator within a control signal (e.g., C-PDCCH, PDCCH, etc.) toidentify the priority class used (e.g., 2-bits, 3-bits, etc.). UE 115receives the control signal via antennas 252 a-r and wireless radios 800a-r. The priority is stored at transmission priority class 804 in memory282.

Further, referring to an alternative aspect illustrated by FIG. 5 , thecontrol signal transmitted by base station 105 at downlink controlsignal 503 may include the indicator of the actual transmission priorityused in LBT to secure the channel for TxOP 500. UE 115 receives thecontrol signal and obtains the actual transmission priority class used.

At block 701, the UE identifies uplink data having at least thetransmission priority indicated in the control signals. and may identifythe exact transmission priority used by the serving base station. UE 115may then identify any uplink data in its uplink data buffer 801 havingat least the same or higher priority.

At block 702, the UE autonomously transmits the uplink data within aconfigured AUL resource of the current TxOP. Once the correct priorityuplink data is identified, UE 115 may autonomously transmit, viawireless radios 800 a-r and antennas 252 a-r, the uplink data within theconfigured AUL resource of the current TxOP. As noted above, UE 115obtains an indication of the AUL resources in a control signal andstores this information at AUL configuration 802, in memory 282. If thescheduled AUL resources are within the current TxOP, UE 115 willdetermine its availability to autonomously transmit data.

Further, referring to an alternative aspect illustrated by FIG. 5 , UE115 may transmit the data that has a priority at least as high as theactual transmission priority class identified by base station 105 withinthe AUL resources of uplink subframe/slot 502 at uplink data 509.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

The functional blocks and modules in FIGS. 4 and 7 may compriseprocessors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronicscomponents, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes,etc., or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure. Skilled artisans will also readilyrecognize that the order or combination of components, methods, orinteractions that are described herein are merely examples and that thecomponents, methods, or interactions of the various aspects of thepresent disclosure may be combined or performed in ways other than thoseillustrated and described herein.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performedwith a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Ageneral-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that theprocessor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereofIf implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.Computer-readable storage media may be any available media that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can compriseRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that canbe used to carry or store desired program code means in the form ofinstructions or data structures and that can be accessed by ageneral-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose orspecial-purpose processor. Also, a connection may be properly termed acomputer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmittedfrom a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable,fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or digital subscriber line (DSL), thenthe coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, or DSL, are includedin the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includescompact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc(DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, the term “and/or,” when used ina list of two or more items, means that any one of the listed items canbe employed by itself, or any combination of two or more of the listeditems can be employed. For example, if a composition is described ascontaining components A, B, and/or C, the composition can contain Aalone; B alone; C alone; A and B in combination; A and C in combination;B and C in combination; or A, B, and C in combination. Also, as usedherein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of itemsprefaced by “at least one of” indicates a disjunctive list such that,for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C orAB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any of these in anycombination thereof.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Variousmodifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scopeof the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited tothe examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded thewidest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication, the methodcomprising: receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a signal including atransmission opportunity (TxOP) length of a current TxOP of a basestation; and transmitting, by the UE and within a configured autonomousuplink (AUL) resource of the current TxOP, data having a transmissionpriority greater than or equal to a selected highest transmissionpriority of a set of potential priorities determined as potentiallybeing used by the base station to secure channel access according to theTxOP length.
 2. The method of claim 1, further including performing, bythe UE, a shortened listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior totransmitting the data, wherein transmitting the data is performed inresponse to success of the shortened LBT procedure.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further including: receiving, by the UE, a scheduled uplinkgrant for the current TxOP from the base station, wherein the scheduleduplink grant includes an indication of an actual transmission priorityused by the base station to secure the current TxOP; and transmitting,by the UE, uplink data having the actual transmission priority duringthe current TxOP according to the scheduled uplink grant.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein transmitting the uplink data further includestransmitting the uplink data having a same or higher transmissionpriority as the actual transmission priority, followed by additionaluplink data having a lower priority traffic than the uplink data, theadditional uplink data transmitted based on at least one transmissionresource allocated by the scheduled uplink grant remain being available.5. The method of claim 1, further including receiving, by the UE, adownlink grant for the current TxOP from the base station, wherein thedownlink grant includes an indication of an actual transmission priorityused by the base station to secure the current TxOP, whereintransmitting the data includes transmitting the data having the actualtransmission priority used by the base station.
 6. The method of claim1, further including: determining, at the UE, the data has a prioritylower than the selected highest transmission priority; and in responseto a determination that the data has the priority lower than theselected highest transmission priority, refraining, by the UE, fromtransmitting the data.
 7. The method of claim 1, further including:inferring, by the UE, the set of potential transmission priorities usedby the base station to secure the channel access according to the TxOPlength; and selecting, by the UE, the highest transmission priority ofthe set of potential transmission priorities.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein: the signal is received by the UE from the base station; thebase station is a serving base station; and the data is autonomouslytransmitted by the UE.
 9. An apparatus configured for wirelesscommunication, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and amemory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to: receive a signal including a transmissionopportunity (TxOP) length of a current TxOP of a base station; andtransmit, within a configured autonomous uplink (AUL) resource of thecurrent TxOP, data having a transmission priority greater than or equalto a selected highest transmission priority of a set of potentialpriorities determined as potentially being used by the base station tosecure channel access according to the TxOP length.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toperform a shortened listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior totransmission of the data, wherein the data is transmitted in response tosuccess of the shortened LBT procedure.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive,from the base station, a scheduled uplink grant for the current TxOP,wherein the scheduled uplink grant includes an indication of an actualtransmission priority used by the base station to secure the currentTxOP; and transmit uplink data having the actual transmission priorityduring the current TxOP according to the scheduled uplink grant.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration of the processor totransmit the uplink data having a same or higher transmission priorityas the actual transmission priority, followed by transmission ofadditional uplink data having a lower priority traffic than the uplinkdata, the additional uplink data transmitted based on at least onetransmission resource allocated by the scheduled uplink grant beingavailable.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to receive, from the base station, adownlink grant for the current TxOP, wherein the downlink grant includesan indication of an actual transmission priority used by the servingbase station to secure the current TxOP, wherein the data has the actualtransmission priority used by the base station.
 14. The apparatus ofclaim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:determine the data has a priority lower than the selected highesttransmission priority; and in response to a determination that the datahas the priority lower than the selected highest transmission priority,refrain from transmission of the data.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon that, whenexecuted by one or more computer processors, cause the one or morecomputer processors to: receive a signal including a transmissionopportunity (TxOP) length of a current TxOP of a base station; andtransmit, within a configured autonomous uplink (AUL) resource of thecurrent TxOP, of data having a transmission priority greater than orequal to a selected highest transmission priority of a set of potentialpriorities determined as potentially being used by the base station tosecure channel access according to the TxOP length.
 16. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computer processors, further cause the oneor more computer processors to perform a shortened listen before talk(LBT) procedure prior to transmission of the data, wherein the data istransmitted in response to success of the shortened LBT procedure. 17.The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computer processors, further cause the oneor more computer processors to: receive a scheduled uplink grant for thecurrent TxOP, wherein the scheduled uplink grant includes an indicationof an actual transmission priority used by base station to secure thecurrent TxOP; and transmit uplink data having the actual transmissionpriority during the current TxOP according to the scheduled uplinkgrant.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the one or more computer processors,further cause the one or more computer processors to transmit the uplinkdata having a same or higher transmission priority as the actualtransmission priority, followed by any transmission of additional uplinkdata having a lower priority traffic than the uplink data, theadditional uplink data transmitted based on at least one transmissionresource allocated by the scheduled uplink grant being available. 19.The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computer processors, further cause the oneor more computer processors to receive, from the base station, adownlink grant for the current TxOP from the base station, wherein thedownlink grant includes indication of an actual transmission priorityused by the base station to secure the current TxOP, wherein the datahas the actual transmission priority used by the base station.
 20. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more computer processors, further cause the oneor more computer processors to: determine the data has a priority lowerthan the selected highest transmission priority; and in response to adetermination that the data has the priority lower than the selectedhighest transmission priority, refrain from transmission of the data.